A still from the ad that Estakio Beltran pulled from YouTube after many criticized it, July 12, 2014. (YouTube)

RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) — A Democrat running for Congress in conservative central Washington has removed an online campaign video that showed him blasting an elephant-shaped piñata with a shotgun.

The Tri-City Herald reports that the advertisement by Estakio Beltran generated a lot of criticism, including from a group founded former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona Democrat who survived a gunshot wound to the head in 2011. The group called it “irresponsible and offensive.”

The campaign removed the video from YouTube on Saturday. In a statement emailed to The Associated Press, Beltran spokesman Grady O’Brien said the purpose of the ad was to call attention to a “do-nothing Congress.”

The 30-year-old Beltran is one of a dozen candidates running to replace retiring Republican Rep. Doc Hastings in the 4th District. The primary will be held Aug. 5.